uziq
Member
+492|3422
because i spend one morning a week reading the issue, here's your link this week.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n09 … the-finger

it's a reading of camus's 'the plague' with regard to covid-19. seeing as some of you have read the book.
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto
Damn paywall, got me again.
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto
In the spirit of book appreciation and personally important works, I came across my all-time favorite book by my all-time favorite poet in my basement the other day:

https://i1.wp.com/www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/thenecessaryangel_wallacestevens.jpg?resize=320%2C492&ssl=1

I forgot I squirreled away a first edition years ago. Humour me and read a short poem by Stevens and tell me it isn't beautiful:

Of the Surface of Things
Wallace Stevens - 1879-1955

I

In my room, the world is beyond my understanding;
But when I walk I see that it consists of three or four
        hills and a cloud.

II

From my balcony, I survey the yellow air,
Reading where I have written,
"The spring is like a belle undressing."

III

The gold tree is blue,
The singer has pulled his cloak over his head.
The moon is in the folds of the cloak.

Last edited by Pochsy (2020-05-08 15:58:46)

The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Larssen
Member
+99|1857
I'm sure this will provoke the ire and revulsion of uziq and some others but I can't say I've ever cared for or appreciated poetry much. The most boring and pretentious of art forms.

But you can have your favorite book, by all means.

Last edited by Larssen (2020-05-08 16:05:58)

Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto
Just curious Larssen, what did you study at university? I suspect it might be political science or IR.
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Larssen
Member
+99|1857
history undergrad, IR postgrad.
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto
Very good combination. Focus on the EU in postgrad?
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Larssen
Member
+99|1857
yep, EU's CSDP was my focus.
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5328|London, England
https://media.tenor.com/images/97d4ebae37503a9d95e32c641166c28b/tenor.gif
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto
Nice. I did most of my political science major at the undergrad level on the EU, then went into a master of public policy with a focus on culture policy to tie in my undergrad major in english literature. The political science component was a combination of statistics, history, IR, and fluffy political science.
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto

Jay wrote:

Read my poem and we can be best friends, but only if you say you like it.
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5328|London, England

Pochsy wrote:

Jay wrote:

Read my poem and we can be best friends, but only if you say you like it.
Poetry has its place. I had enough iambic pentameter shoved down my throat in high school that I can appreciate it, a bit.
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto
thankfully scansion isn't really something that gets done a lot outside of highschool. it has its place in some types of criticism, and can be occasionally useful, but it's a pretty old hat approach to poetry. especially modern poetry that really doesn't adhere to any common structure.

Last edited by Pochsy (2020-05-08 16:21:23)

The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Larssen
Member
+99|1857

Pochsy wrote:

Nice. I did most of my political science major at the undergrad level on the EU, then went into a master of public policy with a focus on culture policy to tie in my undergrad major in english literature. The political science component was a combination of statistics, history, IR, and fluffy political science.
Honestly I always felt a 'pure' academic discipline makes for the best undergrad if you know how and where to focus going in. Having said so poli sci segues nicely into public policy. The link with english literature is not immediately obvious to me but I'm sure it's there.

Last edited by Larssen (2020-05-08 16:30:24)

SuperJail Warden
Gone Forever
+634|3689
now kiss
https://i.imgur.com/xsoGn9X.jpg
Jay
Bork! Bork! Bork!
+2,006|5328|London, England
They're pretty close
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
-Frederick Bastiat
uziq
Member
+492|3422

Larssen wrote:

I'm sure this will provoke the ire and revulsion of uziq and some others but I can't say I've ever cared for or appreciated poetry much. The most boring and pretentious of art forms.

But you can have your favorite book, by all means.
why would you call something pretentious because you don't like it? it's the most idiotic word ever applied to any art form. 'blah, all poetry is pretentious'. you just de-ranked yourself -25 intelligence.

wallace stevens is great. one of my favourites. 'harmonium' has to be one of the most intimidatingly good first poetry collections.
uziq
Member
+492|3422

Jay wrote:

Pochsy wrote:

Jay wrote:

Read my poem and we can be best friends, but only if you say you like it.
Poetry has its place. I had enough iambic pentameter shoved down my throat in high school that I can appreciate it, a bit.
iambic pentameter is 1 of about 7 commonly used meters. i find english poetry purposefully written strictly in iambs tends to feel a bit plodding and stodgy. like a schoolbook exercise.

Last edited by uziq (2020-05-08 16:28:22)

Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto
The deep seated concern for the very structures a bureaucrat moves in is something I feel, too. It's like building some lumbering machine that really isn't built to steer clear of the sudden icebergs.

I think having studied literature helped the most in being able to deal with rhetoric and understand its use. Apart from the obvious things like being able to read shit most people think is nonsense and to derive meaning from it.
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
Larssen
Member
+99|1857

uziq wrote:

Larssen wrote:

I'm sure this will provoke the ire and revulsion of uziq and some others but I can't say I've ever cared for or appreciated poetry much. The most boring and pretentious of art forms.

But you can have your favorite book, by all means.
why would you call something pretentious because you don't like it? it's the most idiotic word ever applied to any art form. 'blah, all poetry is pretentious'. you just de-ranked yourself -25 intelligence.
Good thing I don't depend on your assessment of my intelligence. I mean of course not 100% of all poetry is pretentious but the very definition of the word kinda describes the entire exercise in a lot of instances.

Pochsy wrote:

The deep seated concern for the very structures a bureaucrat moves in is something I feel, too. It's like building some lumbering machine that really isn't built to steer clear of the sudden icebergs.

I think having studied literature helped the most in being able to deal with rhetoric and understand its use. Apart from the obvious things like being able to read shit most people think is nonsense and to derive meaning from it.
In international organisations its problems derive more from the international state system than they do from its own bureaucratic machinations, though those are of course a bit kafkaesque especially in a place as enormous as the EU. Nonetheless the principal contributor to its lumbering nature is dependency on, indecisiveness of and cumbersome decision-making in the council. Apart from that it's technically complicated as well - my expertise was in but one area and it took some time until I arrived to a point where I felt I understood the whole thing. That whole thing still being just one part of the machine.
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto

uziq wrote:

Larssen wrote:

I'm sure this will provoke the ire and revulsion of uziq and some others but I can't say I've ever cared for or appreciated poetry much. The most boring and pretentious of art forms.

But you can have your favorite book, by all means.
wallace stevens is great. one of my favourites. 'harmonium' has to be one of the most intimidatingly good first poetry collections.
And to think he literally came out of nowhere in middle age, which are not known to be a person's height of creativity. And to top it all off he was an insurance executive from Connecticut. I think I'm so into his work because on some level I hope to have my own creative spring in middle age while I toil away at mundane work.
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
uziq
Member
+492|3422

Larssen wrote:

uziq wrote:

Larssen wrote:

I'm sure this will provoke the ire and revulsion of uziq and some others but I can't say I've ever cared for or appreciated poetry much. The most boring and pretentious of art forms.

But you can have your favorite book, by all means.
why would you call something pretentious because you don't like it? it's the most idiotic word ever applied to any art form. 'blah, all poetry is pretentious'. you just de-ranked yourself -25 intelligence.
Good thing I don't depend on your assessment of my intelligence. I mean of course not 100% of all poetry is pretentious but the very definition of the word kinda describes the entire exercise in a lot of instances.
you mean it has artifice? conceit? er, that describes all art, in that case. to use the pejorative sense 'pretentious' is the height of philistinism. a piece of text without any pretence isn't art: it's a fucking instruction manual. it's a road sign. it's a warning sticker.

you are a very silly little boy. go and stand in the corner and think about what you're saying.
Pochsy
Artifice of Eternity
+702|5513|Toronto

Larssen wrote:

In international organisations its problems derive more from the international state system than they do from its own bureaucratic machinations, though those are of course a bit kafkaesque especially in a place as enormous as the EU. Nonetheless the principal contributor to its lumbering nature is dependency on, indecisiveness of and cumbersome decision-making in the council. Apart from that it's technically complicated as well - my expertise was in but one area and it took some time until I arrived to a point where I felt I understood the whole thing. That whole thing still being just one part of the machine.
I wrote a 4 page BN 5 weeks ago that just cleared the directors table on Thursday. It has exactly 6 more levels of approval to make it through, which I think puts the policy direction on track for a December of 2047 release. Should time well with my retirement party at the bar in the bottom of the building.
The shape of an eye in front of the ocean, digging for stones and throwing them against its window pane. Take it down dreamer, take it down deep. - Other Families
uziq
Member
+492|3422

Pochsy wrote:

uziq wrote:

Larssen wrote:

I'm sure this will provoke the ire and revulsion of uziq and some others but I can't say I've ever cared for or appreciated poetry much. The most boring and pretentious of art forms.

But you can have your favorite book, by all means.
wallace stevens is great. one of my favourites. 'harmonium' has to be one of the most intimidatingly good first poetry collections.
And to think he literally came out of nowhere in middle age, which are not known to be a person's height of creativity. And to top it all off he was an insurance executive from Connecticut. I think I'm so into his work because on some level I hope to have my own creative spring in middle age while I toil away at mundane work.
you can still see his house on google maps. i've looked before.

i would say the arc is almost unheard of but unfortunately possibly the only other american poet/man of letters of bigger stature than him, eliot, was a banker until middle-age. it's a neat image, though, and incredibly rare.
Larssen
Member
+99|1857

Pochsy wrote:

Larssen wrote:

In international organisations its problems derive more from the international state system than they do from its own bureaucratic machinations, though those are of course a bit kafkaesque especially in a place as enormous as the EU. Nonetheless the principal contributor to its lumbering nature is dependency on, indecisiveness of and cumbersome decision-making in the council. Apart from that it's technically complicated as well - my expertise was in but one area and it took some time until I arrived to a point where I felt I understood the whole thing. That whole thing still being just one part of the machine.
I wrote a 4 page BN 5 weeks ago that just cleared the directors table on Thursday. It has exactly 6 more levels of approval to make it through, which I think puts the policy direction on track for a December of 2047 release. Should time well with my retirement party at the bar in the bottom of the building.
I left Brussels a number of years ago and the results of my/our work at the time will still maybe not be apparent until some 5-10 years from now, or maybe never, or maybe it'll suddenly become hugely important. We (the member states) also spent weeks, I mean literal weeks, 14 hour days cooped up in meeting rooms fighting over the precise wording of conclusions and statements nobody reads but which had to be formally signed off by political leadership.

Everyone who left was in high spirits. If you dislike your national bureaucracy think long and hard before you try international.

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